Ten strips is probably the appropriate number for a project called The Tithe. It seems as though people enjoyed it, which I will gladly accept over the alternative. And it's not even done! I get to work on it forever. Knowing what I learned from this, I can shift gears over to the novels with no loss of momentum.

Just re-posting this since it didn't stay on the front page long.

I spent a lot of time working out the design of the beast from the Tithe. When I think about the “monsters” of the Eyrewood I have some very specific ideas for how they should look. For me the most important thing is that they look like they could be real animals. I like the idea of twisting and combining creatures rather than creating something from scratch. I put together this collection of images from my sketchbook.

The series wraps up on Friday - here's the exquisite foyer you can wait in until it does. There were a ton of different forest beasts that auditioned for the role before this one, and I think my recently returned associate is going to break them down for you.

I pitched them a set of pages that was largely about the drunken singing of sea shanties, mostly so I could write one, and there really wasn't a discussion - these things feature prominently in the game, apparently, so they were down. Then I tapped Katie Rice (of her own fame, but also of Strip Search fame) to handle art duties, and we were off to the races. I hope you enjoy it.

I mean, is that a crossover? I don't even know anymore. It's ceased entirely being three things and has become a kind of ecosystem, which… actually, that makes a lot of sense.

Tycho and I have a tendency to make our projects a bit ambiguous. We like to leave room for your imagination. Somehow forum user PedroAsani cut right through all our bullshit and nailed the world in just a few lines. It's too perfect not to post here:

The Tithe continues! We are on page seven today and I can tell you that in total this is a ten page project, meaning it will wrap up a week from today.

So that's the other one. I don't know how much people like the "after action report" aspect in the post, but I get excited about something like this I want to talk about it. When I see a new page of it, I have to pace around the office and breathe for a little while. I have to. So let's talk.

My wife and I have been playing Diablo 3 on the Xbox for the last few nights. We played a bit of the PC version together but both of us agree this is much better. Controlling your character with an analog stick rather than with pointing and clicking just feels better to me. It could be that I was a console gamer long before I ever had a PC but the couch just feels like the right place for Diablo 3. Kara and I are both playing new characters so while we’re covering some of the stuff we already played on the PC we’re at least experiencing it in a new way. If you never played it on the PC I highly recommend you give the console version a shot.

Here is the next one.

The Lookouts pin set that we had for sale at PAX Prime is now available in our store.

The ammount of fan art I'm seeing for the Tithe is pretty amazing. We've never done anything before that has generated this sort of response. I'm getting songs and drawings and stories sent to me every day. I'm hearing from readers who are reading the Tithe with their own real daughters and loving it. I've actually walked by offices here at PA and heard girls that work here talking about what flower would grow in their hair if they were a daughter. I am so happy.

I'm gonna leave his up there; no reason to move it, so far as I can see. We're both doing the same thing now.

Page 5 has Hanna scared and alone in the forest doing the only thing she can think of, Calling the Thornwatch. We've spoken of them before on the site and even did a little three part comic based on them. The comic was from the point of view of the Lookouts though and they see the Thornwatch as oath breakers and criminals. Boys are warned to never call the Thornwatch no matter how dire their situation is.

Page 4 of the Tithe is one of my favorites. You’re not always able to get exactly what’s in your head out on the page. On this page though I feel like I hit all the emotions I was after. Here’s a look at my sketchbook for this page.